For many years now vehicles that are temporarily connected to trailers have been used to transport boats, off-road vehicles, lawn maintenance equipment, and other vehicles. Generally, a hitch assembly connected to the towing vehicle and trailer is employed to permit their interconnection. Aligning the hitch assembly of the towing vehicle with the hitch assembly of the trailer is often a time-consuming and frustrating endeavour. This is especially so when the trailer is so heavy that it cannot be moved by an individual to compensate for minor misalignments of the hitching assemblies. In response to the continued nuisance associated with attempting to align hitching components, numerous hitching system alignment aids have been developed. Examples of some of the more common approaches include, mirrors attached to the rear of the towing vehicle for providing a view of the hitch assemblies, cameras mounted to provide a video picture of the hitch assemblies, metal guide plates attached to the towing vehicle hitch assembly to force lighter trailers into alignment, and electronic sensor assemblies. Each of the prior art approaches falls short of providing an accurate, low-cost, portable, all-weather, easy-to-use hitching system.
Hitching systems employing mirrors generally are mounted to the rear of the towing vehicle and provide the vehicle operator a view of the hitch assemblies during the alignment operation. To be effective mirrors must typically be of the relatively large convex variety making storage difficult and replacement relatively costly. Additionally, mirrors require favourable viewing conditions; therefore night-time operation and bad-weather operation are problematic.
Camera assemblies that are used in hitching systems provide the operator with a video display to assist in the alignment of the hitch assemblies. In addition to usually requiring daytime operation and good weather, camera assemblies are very expensive and require time-consuming assembly and disassembly each time the hitching system is used.
Metal guideplates by their very nature are limited to use with the class of trailers wherein aligning the hitching assemblies is the least problematic. The guideplates are situated between a vehicle and the ball-hitch in the shape of a "V". As the vehicle is backed-up, a slightly misaligned trailer hitch component will impact the guideplate and be guided in towards the ball-hitch. As the trailer hitch component is guided inward, the trailer pivots about its tires. Due to the necessity for shifting the position of the trailer, the guideplate system is limited to use with lighter weight trailers. Using guideplates with heavier trailers may lead to either the guideplate breaking away from the vehicle or the vehicle being shifted, placing undesirable lateral forces upon the vehicle wheels.
Conventional hitching systems that rely on electronic circuits employ sensor assemblies such as magnetically activated switches, autofocus assemblies, and light reflective assemblies. Generally, output signals from the various sensors are received by a processor, which calculates the relative distance from the towing vehicle to the towed vehicle and provides an output to the operator. To receive power, the processor and some of the sensor assemblies are typically wired to the towing vehicle power subsystem. Connecting to the vehicle power requires the system to be semi-permanently installed with an associated installation cost in addition to the cost of the electronic assemblies.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a hitching system for facilitating an operator's maneuvering of a towing vehicle to align the vehicle hitch component with a trailer hitch component carried on a towed vehicle. Also, it is desirable for the hitching system to be operational during bad weather and at night. Additionally, a low-cost, portable system is desirable. It would also be desirable to provide a system that is operational with virtually all types of towing vehicles and trailers.